A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how much I loved Italy. It was #5 on my list of the top seven countries/places I've been. This week, I'm sharing my trip to Spain with y'all! It's number four on my list!

#4: SpainWhere I went: The first time I went to Spain, I traveled to Barcelona. The second time I went to Spain, I visited Madrid, Cadiz, Cordoba, and Seville.

Who I went with: my mother, father, brother, and nephew

When we went: summer of 2012, summer or 2013

What we did: In Barcelona, we visited the Sagrada Familia and saw the 1992 Olympic stadium. We were only in Cadiz for one night, but it was so pretty! In Cordoba, we went to the mosque and walked around. We ended up getting lost and it took us two hours to find our rental car. It was a nightmare! In Seville, we explored churches, saw the Plaza de España, and shopped. Madrid was amazing probably my favorite–– we went to the Prado museum, saw the Royal Palace, and walked through Plaza Mayor.

Why it is #5 on my list: Spain was beautiful. It was such a diverse place, and every city differed tremendously from the last one. The architecture was stunning, the beaches were nice, and the streets were alive. One of my favorite memories is wandering the streets at 2:00am with my brother, because I was astounded to see how many people were still awake and outside.

Macarons in Madrid

The Royal Palace in Madrid

The Royal Palace in Madrid

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

The Mosque in Cordoba

Sunflower fields in Seville

My mom in an alleyway in Seville

Plaza de España

The Supermoon of 2013 over Seville

Sunset in Cadiz

Stay tuned to read about my #3 place next week! If you've been to Spain, what did you love about it? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!

I'm in love with my new Krass & Co. shorts! I needed a break from my Nike running shorts because I thought they were too plain, so I decided to try Krass & Co. ones instead. I'm so glad I did. The shorts are so comfortable, and the shirt I purchased is one of the softest tees I own! They make great gifts for both guys and girls, and they come in an array of preppy patterns.

I've also become a Krass & Co. brand ambassador recently, so I thought I'd share my latest purchase from them and also share how y'all can save 15% on all orders!

I cannot wait to style these! They are perfect for lounging by the pool or wearing to the beach over a bikini. I bought the Georgia printed shorts and the limited edition Zesty Zebra shorts. I also got the America tee in white. Here are a few of my favorites that I hope to acquire in the future:

On the weekends, I've been in the habit of throwing on an oxford button down and jeans. It's such a simple outfit, and it's also quite comfortable. The jeans + oxford combo is also perfect if you're on the go and doing chores, like I was this past Sunday before taking these photos. I'm loving my new ripped jeans from J. Crew! They are extremely soft and currently on sale for $95! I've been getting a ton of compliments on them, so I thought I'd share them with y'all.

"Confidence is like a muscle–– the more you use it, the stronger it gets." // Unknown

This blog post was prompted by negative anonymous remarks I received on tumblr. I have had my tumblr account for almost a year now, and in that time I have received an abundant amount of messages, both positive and negative. The negative messages have never impacted me, and I have always been extremely grateful for the uplifting positive messages I've received over the past year.

Although I do not let anonymous negativity get to me, I have seen other people be affected by it in a detrimental manner, and it hurts me to see this happen. Everyone should love themselves! Everyone should feel comfortable with who they are. No one should be influenced by a message coming from someone who is too coward to say it non-anonymously... but words can still sting. They can be hurtful, and it is never fun to see someone target your insecurities, whether it be online or in real life.

I personally believe that confidence is an extremely important attribute to have. It is important to be confident in yourself because if you are comfortable with who you are, you'll be happier in general. Confidence is attractive. Confidence is good. Yet, it's almost intrinsic for humans to focus on their negative qualities rather than celebrate their good qualities. If you listen to other people throughout the day, you will probably hear more complaints than you will hear them say positive things about themselves. It shouldn't be this way though. It should be the other way around!

How to be More Confident

It might seem easier to attack yourself rather then to build yourself up, but it really isn't. It also does absolutely no good to tear yourself down, either. Instead of looking in the mirror and saying, "Wow, my teeth are crooked," say "Wow, my smile is so unique" instead! Find the little insecurities within you and spin them to be positive. Do you hate your freckles? Don't. Freckles are beautiful. Are you uncomfortable with your height? Don't be. You cannot change how tall you are, so accept it. Own it. Try to develop a more positive mindset. Every time you start to think negatively about yourself, take time to reflect on the things that you love about yourself instead. Stop comparing yourself to others. You are you, not them.

No one else's opinion is relevant. As long as you are comfortable with who you are, that's all that matters. If someone chooses to say something negative to you about your body/personality, respond with: "I appreciate your concern, but I am happy with my ________." If you show them that you are happy with who you are, it'll make them realize that their opinion has not negatively impacted you. Half of the time, people say mean things because they are envious of what someone else has, or they are unhappy with what they have. Consider the source of the negative remark, and as Taylor Swift says, shake it off!

Spreading positive thoughts is just as important as thinking them too! Try to compliment others more. If you see someone looking sad, tell them that you like their outfit. Something as simple as receiving a small compliment can brighten someone's day tremendously. Let your positivity radiate onto others. Encourage others to do the things they love. By encouraging friends/family to pursue their goals, you are showing that you have confidence in them. Smile more often. Stop complaining about yourself.

Before commenting on someone else's body/personality/style/life, consider how that comment would make you feel if you were on the receiving end. If it would make you feel bad about yourself, DO NOT say it. If it would make you feel good about yourself, go ahead and share!

I'm so excited that the cold is finally leaving and the warmer weather is coming. Even though I live in Orlando, we have had some pretty chilly days in the past few weeks. I've really missed the warm sunshine, and the cold was starting to get on my nerves. I don't know how some of you northerners handle it! Props to y'all.

I can't wait until I can wear my bikinis and lay out by the pool. I'm definitely in need of a tan, and I miss studying in the sun. The library is getting old!

Valentine's Day is never my favorite holiday, but this one turned out to be a pretty good one. It was spent with my friends eating pizza, donuts, watching movies, and shopping. Even though we packed all of that into one day, I still made time to take outfit photos! My roommate, Virginia, took them... I think she did an amazing job!

Last week, I wrote a post about how much I loved France. It was #6 on my list of the top seven countries/places I've been. This week, I'm sharing my trip to Italy with y'all! It's number five on my list!

#5: ItalyWhere I went: Florence and the region of Tuscany

Who I went with: my mother, father, and brother

When we went: summer of 2012

What we did: We drove to the region of Tuscany after visiting France. We stayed at an olive oil resort called Villa Campestri in Vicchio, Italy. It was so beautiful! On the third day of being in Italy, we took a short train ride into Florence. We walked around and climbed to the top of Brunelleschi's Cupola in the Duomo. It was so cool!

Why it is #5 on my list: The region of Tuscany was breathtaking. The sunsets in the evening were so picturesque and the resort was calming. Florence was nothing like I expected–– it was much older, louder, and everyone seemed to be in a rush, but I liked it.

Vicchio: My bedroom at the Villa Campestri

Tuscany: Our dinnertime view.

Florence: Looking out from the top of the cupola.

Florence: The view from the top of the cupola.

Florence: the Duomo.

Florence: at the top of the cupola with my brother, dad, and mom.

Vicchio: Villa Campestri.

Florence: in front of the Duomo with my dad and my brother. When I was going through these photos,
I was hysterically laughing at how we all used to dress. My dad is wearing cargo shorts, I'm rocking the
weird skirt, and my brother had the athletic shorts look going on.

Florence: Exploring.

Florence: Walking around the Boboli Gardens.

Stay tuned to read about my #4 place next week! If you've been to Italy, what did you love about it? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!

I absolutely love photography, especially taking photos on my iPhone. Not only is it super convenient since I have my phone with me at practically all times, but it's super easy to edit photos in a flash. Here are my favorite photo editing/photography apps and an explanation on how I edit my photos! This is a pretty lengthy post since I included a ton of screenshots, but I hope it is helpful for those who wanted to see!

Afterlight

I love this app for so many reasons. Although it isn't free (it costs $0.99), it's totally worth the money. It's super easy to use and it comes with a ton of awesome filters. My personal favorites are "relic," "idaho," and "brightfire." It's also super easy to adjust saturation, fade, sharpness, etc...

This is the home screen of the Afterlight app. You can chose to either take a photo with the app and then edit it, or you can edit an existing photo that you already have in your camera roll.

This is a photo I selected from my camera roll. This is the photo before I edited it.

This is the photo after I edited it. I applied the filter "relic" and I also edited the exposure and clarity.

Afterlight is great is because you can add the white border to photos so they don't get cropped on the Instagram app.

VSCO cam

This app is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It's free in the app store, but I'd suggest looking at some of the filters they have available for purchase. I also like this app because you can share photos to your "grid" and then others can go look at them. For example, here is my grid!

A look at the home screen of VSCO Cam.

This is the photo I chose before I edited it!

This is after... I used the filter "F2" and added fade.

This is what my grid looks like from my iPhone!

if you click on a picture you've already edited, it will tell you what filter you used. If you really like how a photo of yours looks (and you want to use the same filter on a different photo), you can look it up later instead of guessing which filter you used previously!

A Beautiful Mess

I usually use this app for its cool fonts. Whenever I want to make a quote look neat, I'll type it up on ABM. You can also use this app to make collages and to add text to existing photos! It's worth the $0.99 for sure.

The home screen for ABM. You can chose to edit a solo shot or to make a collage.

If you want to create something instead of editing a photo, you can choose a color as your background.

I created this by using the "amatic" font and the "my favorite" phrase. I also added a border.

What are some of your favorite photo editing apps? Feel free to share them in the comments below. I always love discovering new ones!

About Me

Lover of dogs, traveling, big cities, beaches, french fries, and stars. I blog here about my outfits, life in general, and travel. I'm also a photography lover–– if you want to book a session with me, feel free to shoot me an email!